The invention relates to a warmer and cooler for a container that is programmably timed to engage a heating and/or cooling unit.
Without a doubt, a newborn and infant will feed at its own schedule. This child cries until it is fed. The problem is that often, a parent is required to go downstairs (or elsewhere) and remove milk/formula from the cooler (e.g., refrigerator) or prepare it from scratch, heat it, and then come upstairs, all while the child cries. Most parents recognize that the time spent making up the bottle is agonizing for the parent and the child, Any invention that minimizes the time interval between the child awakening and being fed would be greatly received. At the end of the feeding, any unused milk must be returned to the refrigerator otherwise spoliation will occur. Given the increasing cost of formula or the difficulty in obtaining breast milk, it is desirable to save as much unused milk as possible.
Most parents understand that the child will awake roughly on schedule. It is no wonder that many jokes are made about midnight or three a.m. feedings. This recognizes an important, but surprisingly overlooked characteristic; namely that children tend to be on a schedule. Accordingly, rather than trying to fight the nighttime feeding, the parent can work with the child to minimize parental disruption. This is especially important if there is a primary care giver and the primary breadwinner in the same room, such that prolonged crying awakens the breadwinner.
In addition, traveling poses unique problems for the parents and the children. In automobile travel it is nearly impossible to adequately transport milk/formula because of cooling and then subsequent heating problems. Similarly, in overnight lodgings, often times the lodgings are not equipped with ovens, microwave ovens, refrigerators, etc. and accordingly portable devices that can substitute for cooling and heating units would be well received.
Partial solutions exist to some of the identified problems. But they fail in most respects. Some devices include flash warmers that heat a bottle quickly. Flash warmers, however, require removal of the bottle from the refrigerator. This definitely means a trip to the refrigerator by the parent. Accordingly, even though flash warmers may reduce the time spent warming the bottle versus using a traditional stovetop method or the more dangerous microwave oven method, it still does not solve a problem associated with cooling a bottle. Most importantly, though, the flash wanner cannot be adapted to have a bottle ready for when the child awakes. And yet another problem with flash warmers is that there is no way to transport it in the car for long trips. The travel requirement relegates the parent to carrying separate bottle bags, usually with freezable gel packs.
One of the problems with flash warmers is that there is no way to keep the bottle cool during the night. Trips to the refrigerator are standard procedures. Given the child""s generally consistent sleep schedule, flash warmers are no use even if the child is scheduled. This is because flash warmers cannot turn on or off as a function of time. Flash warmers simply turn on when manually activated by the parent. A bottle cannot be set into the warmer over the night because the milk or formula is left unrefrigerated. Accordingly, flash warmers have no timers to provide for automated warming or cooling.
Other devices in the art discuss having separate warming and cooling compartments. For those units that purportedly are day-night warmers (also known as dusk to dawn units), these warmers are not timed and nor are they self-contained units. Human intervention is still required to manually move the bottle from the cooling portion to the heat portion. In addition, the cooling unit is a freezeable gel pack that must be removed each morning, frozen, and replaced into the unit each night. Therefore, if the parent forgets to remove it in the morning, the unit is useless for that night. None of these are timed to provide automated warming and cooling within the same compartment or enclosure. In the mode of operation, these units generally require the following steps: freeze the gel pack ahead of time, prepare milk in bottle, insert bottle in cold compartment with frozen gel pack, remove bottle when child awakens, insert bottle into warming compartment, manually activate warmer, remove bottle when warm. As the frozen gel pack thaws during the course of the night, it becomes incapable of maintaining a cold enough temperature to safely store unused formula. Again, another trip the refrigerator may be necessary in the night to return unused formula. Accordingly, whilst the parent may save a trip to the refrigerator at the begining of the feeding cycle, one will likely be required at the end of the cycle. Plainly, the dusk to dawn warmers woefully fail to solve most of the problems associated with nighttime feedings.
The other problem with flash warmers or other dusk to dawn warmers/coolers is that there is no uniform heating/cooling or temperature modulation to maintain constancy. Thus it is hard to maintain thermoequilibrium.
The foregoing problems are solved and a technical advance is achieved by the present invention. Disclosed is timed container thermoregulation device that provides for automated warming and cooling of the container. One non limiting example of the invention includes an enclosure adapted to receive a container, a timer connected with the enclosure, and a thermoregulator to regulate the temperature of the container so that a parent can set a bottle in the container, keep it cool or refrigerated, and the enclosure warms the bottle at a preselected time or in response to a timed event or in response to a predetermined event. Thus, for example, if the parent knows the child generally awakes at 2:00 am, then the timer can be set for 1:55 am to engage the warmer such that child awakes when the bottle is warmed. This avoids the parent from having to engage in extensive activity just to prepare the bottle.
It should be noted that while the disclosed embodiments relate to baby bottles, it is understood that the invention may equally include baby food bottles, medicines, or the like. It is also understood that while many embodiments shown are for single bottles, the invention may be modified to accommodate many bottles. This is useful, for example, in the case where there are multiple unrelated babies (e.g, hospital nursery, day care centers, nurseries, etc.), multiple related babies in the same room (e.g., twins, triplets, etc.), or where the baby""s schedule is such that the baby will feed multiple times in the night such that it would be convenient to have one bottle be warmed for the first feeding whilst the others stay cool; and then the other bottles are warmed later.
It should be noted that while some embodiments disclosed are discussed in relation to nighttime feedings, it is understood that the invention may used at any time of day.
It should be noted that use of adjectives or positional words, such as but not limited to xe2x80x9cinxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cabovexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9caroundxe2x80x9d or any other word that indicates a position or location, it is understood that these words are used in their non-exclusive or non-limiting sense. Furthermore, terms may be used to indicate that the invention is open-ended with respect to the features described. These terms may be xe2x80x9cincludexe2x80x9d xe2x80x9csuch asxe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cincludingxe2x80x9d xe2x80x9chavingxe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cfor examplexe2x80x9d or other types of open ended terms. For example, these terms are not limiting and thus a phrase termed as xe2x80x9csuch asxe2x80x9d should be interpreted to mean xe2x80x9csuch as, but not limited to . . . xe2x80x9d.
The term xe2x80x9cheatantxe2x80x9d is used to denote the medium that carries the heat. Heatant may include, but is not limited to, a liquid, solid, vapour, or air. The term xe2x80x9ccoolantxe2x80x9d is used to denote the medium that carries the cold. Coolants may also include a liquid, solid, vapour, or air.
It should be noted that not all the advantages described must all be found in the invention as the invention may include some or all of the advantages. Accordingly, all advantages described herein need not be present to appreciate the invention.